News Brief

1/29/2014, Shevat 28, 5774

"Candidates Must Live in City for at Least 6 Months"

The Knesset plenum approved on Wednesday the preliminary reading of a bill regarding the residence of candidates in local municipal elections. If passed, all candidates running in a city must have lived in that city for at least the past six months. The bill in intended to prevent "the phenomenon of airdropping in candidates," as described by the bill's proposal.

A recent example is that of Jerusalem mayoral candidate Moshe Lion, a native of Givatayim near Tel Aviv. Although he was the head of the Jerusalem Development Authority for years, he moved to Jerusalem only several months before the election. Nevertheless, Lion gain 45% of the vote compared to the winner, incumbent Mayor Nir Barkat with 51%. While many praised Lion's intentions, others criticized him as an outsider.